A Bidayuh dance – one of the 16 traditional dances performed for the drama.
MIRI: The two-day musical drama ‘Lesong: A Journey of Prince Serapi’, which ends at the Miri Civic Centre tonight, portrays the rich cultural heritage of Sarawakians.
Department for Culture and Arts’ state director Salehuddin Md Salleh said although the story was only a mite about Prince Serapi searching for her lost sister Princess Lesung, who had been kidnapped by a golden crocodile in Sarawak, the gist of the story was on the diversity of people in the state.
“In this drama, we incorporated 16 traditional dances of the locals and they were performed by locals of the different races. Among them the Ibans, Bidayuhs, Malays and the Chinese, and, hopefully, in this way it could present in an interesting manner the rich cultural heritage in Sarawak,” he told thesundaypost during the full dress rehearsal of the drama on Friday.
Salehuddin, also the drama’s artistic director, added with the drama depicting the various races and places from northern to southern Sarawak up to the legendary Gunung Serapi in Kuching and Gunung Lesong in Bau, it hoped to relate to the people the important landmarks in the state.
“Mirians are very lucky to be chosen as the venue for its inaugural staging of this drama. It is very expensive to stage and produce, costing us about RM250,000. If we can find sponsors and funds, we might restage it in Kuching,” he said.
(From right) Salehuddin and other production crew members looking at every detail of the drama.
The lead actor and actress for the dance drama respectively are two multi-talented locals: Ebi Kornelis, (singer, actor and producer) and the newly crowned Miss Malaysia World 2014, Dewi Liana Seriestha, (singer, composer and song writer, model and actress).
The drama is one of the programmes forCitrawarna – one of the 3-in-one state-level events being held at the Dewan Suarah and the Miri City Fan.
Tonight, the drama is for the general public, starting at 7.15pm. Admission is free.
The other two events were the Showcase Groom Big (sale and promotion of SMEs products) and the Citrarasa (promotion and sale of the various signature multi-racial food).
The 3-in-1 event held in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014 is organised jointly by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia (Motac), Department for Culture and Arts, Ministry of Tourism Sarawak, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) and the various associations and entrepreneurs.